Genetics: Timeline of key events

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Lamarck was a French biologist who proposed that physical traits were inherited through generations by two forces. The first force was alchemical and second was environmental. He first outlined his theory of evolution in a lecture in 1802. While discredited for many years, Lamark's theory that organisms can acquire physical traits from their environment and pass these on to their offspring has resurfaced with the rise of epigenetics, a science that seeks to understand how chemical modifications to genes and proteins made in one generation are passed on to the next one.1744-10-01T00:00:00+0000

1 Oct 1744

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was born in Bazentin, Picardy, France

Lamarck

French Academy of Sciences

Genetics

Schleiden was a botanist. Based on his study of plant structures under the microscope he helped develop the theory that cells are the basic structure in all organisms and the basic unit of reproduction. He also connected the cell nucleus with cell division and suggested that all embryonic plant cells arose from one cell. 1804-04-05T00:00:00+0000

5 Apr 1804

Matthias J Schleiden was born

Schleiden

University of Jena

Cell, Genetics

Galton is best known for having ignited the debate about 'Nature versus Nurture' in 1869 and coined the term 'Eugenics' in 1883. Inspired by his cousin Charles Darwin's work, he developed a programme of research to understand human variation, looking at their differences in mental capabilities and height to facial characteristics and fingerprint patterns. He pioneered the use of statistical methods to determine human differences and how intelligence and physical trains are passed down through families. 1822-02-16T00:00:00+0000

16 Feb 1822

Francis Galton was born in Birmingham, United Kingdom

Galton

University College London

Genetics

Mendel is today considered the father of modern genetics. An Augustinian monk, Mendel helped establish the basic laws of genetic inheritance by studying the traits between different pea plant generations. Mendel conducted this research between 1853 and 1863. Based on experiments with tens of thousands of different plants, Mendel established that peas followed certain patterns in terms of the traits they inherited. He published his results in 1866, but he did little to promote his work. The importance of his work was only grasped many decades later after his death. 1822-07-20T00:00:00+0000

20 Jul 1822

Gregor Johann Mendel was born in Hyncice, Czech Republic

Mendel

Hyncice, Czech Republic

Genetics

Lamarck was a French biologist who proposed that physical traits were inherited through generations by two forces. The first force was alchemical and second was environmental. He first outlined his theory of evolution in a lecture in 1802. While discredited for many years, Lamark's theory that organisms can acquire physical traits from their environment and pass these on to their offspring has resurfaced with the rise of epigenetics, a science that seeks to understand how chemical modifications to genes and proteins made in one generation are passed on to the next one. 1829-12-18T00:00:00+0000

Flemming was a biologist who is credited with the foundation of cytogenetics. He was the first to describe the behaviour of chromosomes during cell division, a process he called mitosis. This he discovered through investigations of the fins and gills of salamanders. He first published his findings in 1878. In addition to his pioneering scientific work, Flemming is famous for his social activism. Notably he fed the homeless on a weekly basis and donated 20% of his salary to homeless shelters. He also taught mathematics and science to children too poor to attend school. 1843-04-21T00:00:00+0000

21 Apr 1843

Walther Flemming was born in Schwerin, Germany

Flemming

University of Kiel

Cell, Genetics

van Beneden was a cytologist and embryologist. He worked out how chromosomes divide during cell meiosis. Based on studies of an intestinal worm found in horses, he also showed that fertilisation involves the union of two half-nuclei, one form the male sperm cell and one from the female egg, each containing half the the number of chromosomes found in all cells. He later demonstrated that the chromosome number is constant for every body cell in each species. 1846-03-05T00:00:00+0000

Hertwig was a biologist who determined that fertilisation starts when the nuclei of sperm and ovum cells fuse. This he proved in 1876 through experiments with sea urchins. Eight years later he demonstrated, through investigations of frog eggs, that the cell divides along its long axis. He was also prescient in predicting, in 1885, that the nucleic acid is the substance responsible for fertilisation and the transmission of hereditary traits. This phenomenon was proven in 1944. 1849-04-21T00:00:00+0000

21 Apr 1849

Oskar Hertwig was born in Friedberg, Germany

Hertwig

Friedberg, Germany

Reproduction, Genetics

Kossel was a German biochemist who was a key pioneer in the field of genetics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1910 for having isolated and described the five organic compounds present in nucleic acid. The compounds he isolated were adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine, and uracil. These are key to the formation of DNA and RNA. Kossel's work also laid the foundation for determining the composition of protein and its polypetides. 1853-09-16T00:00:00+0000

16 Sep 1853

Albrecht Kossel was born in Rostock, Mecklenburg (now Germany)

Kossel

University of Heidelberg

Genetics

Stevens was an American biologist who was one of the first scientists to describe the importance of the Y chromosome for determining the sex of some species, and to recognise that females have two X chromosomes. The later she determined after noting male beetles produced two kinds of sperm: each with different sized chromosomes. In 1905 she was awarded $1000 for the best scientific paper written by a women. Five years later she was listed as one of America's leading 1000 scientists by The New York Times.1861-07-07T00:00:00+0000

7 Jul 1861

Nettie Maria Stevens was born in Cavendish, Vermon, USA

Stevens

Carnegie Institute, Bryn Mawr College

Genetics

Herrick was a physician and cardiologist who reported the first case of sickle-shaped red blood cells in 1910. These he found in the blood of a medical student from Grenada suffering from anaemia. Clinicians subsequently found that the condition, called sickle-cell anaemia, was inherited and was most common in black patients. Sickle-cell anemia was the first disease found to have a genetic cause. Herrick later also observed the first clinical features of coronary thrombosis. 1861-08-11T00:00:00+0000

11 Aug 1861

James Bryan Herrick was born in Oak Park, Illinois, USA

Herrick

Rush Medical College

Genetics

Oscar Hertwig, Albrecht von Kolliker, Eduard Strasburger, and August Weismann independently show the cell's nucleus contains the basis for inheritance.1864-01-01T00:00:00+0000

Conducting experiments breeding peas, Gregor Mendel, Austrian scientist, demonstrates that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns. This lays the foundation for what was to become known as the laws of Mendelian inheritance. Athough Mendel's theory was not recognised until the early 20th century, Mendel's work established the general principles for modern genetics.
1865-01-01T00:00:00+0000

1865

Laws of inheritance established

Mendel

Abbey of St Thomas, Brno, Austro-Hungarian Empire

Genetics

Ernst Haeckel, German biologist and philosopher, proposes the cell nucleus contains factors responsible for the transmission of hereditary traits.1866-01-01T00:00:00+0000

1866

Theory that cell's nucleus contains genetic substance

Haeckel

University of Jena

Cell, Genetics

Morgan is considered the father of the modern science of genetics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for demonstrating how genes carried on chromosomes are the mechanical basis of hereditary. This he determined based on some cross-breeding experiments with the fruit fly (Drosophila) that he conducted between 1908 and 1911. 1866-09-25T00:00:00+0000

25 Sep 1866

Thomas Hunt Morgan was born in Lexington KY, USA

Morgan

Columbia University, California Institute of Technology

Genetics

McClung was a zoologist. He is best known for identifying the role of chromosomes in determining the sex of a species. This he did through a series of experiments with insects between 1901 and 1902. Based on his findings he hypothesised that the accessory chromosome (now known as chromosome X) could be the nuclear element that determined sex. It was the first time a scientist suggested that a given chromosome carried a set of hereditary traits. 1870-04-05T00:00:00+0000

5 Apr 1870

Clarence E McClung was born in Clayton, California, USA

McClung

University of Pennsylvania

Genetics

Originally called chromatin, the chromosome is a rod like structure that is found inside the cell nucleus. It was discovered by Walther Flemming with the help of analine dyes. He also described the behaviour of chromosomes during cell division. Flemming first published a comprehensive outline of is findings in his book Zellsubstanz, Kern und Zelltheilung (Cell substance, nucleus and cell division) in 1882.
1878-01-01T00:00:00+0000

1878

Chromosomes and the process of mitiotic cell division first discovered